[50 Yochl (Drow ) Bmg] [TEMPORUM Temporum(T)] <PK> [HARDCORE] (Hourglass [T]) (Dominion [M]) [Female] (WANTED) Llothoria Xhorkai the Scourge of the Battlefield

[Lloth]

It's not OOC to assume that an entity capable of leveling an entire area fairly easily can kill a character. That is demonstrated IC. What keeps them in check is their own respective ties to the realm and the ones that inhabit it, not to mention the other deities. For instance, if Lloth was the massacring type, she'd be kept in check by Erelei, the concept of giving over more power to Anume (by killing people and increasing the size of her legion of zombies), by Volgathras if she were to wage open war for ownership of Aabahran's souls, etc. She is, and always will/would be, also be kept in check by her own desires to toy with people and twist their ways of thinking to match with her own. She's desperately trying to show Aabahran, herself included, that she hasn't been driven to madness. That sense of denial and trying to cling to the single soul she started with amidst the vast ocean of others each vying for dominance over the collective. She has plans, and she wants to shape Aabahran to suit them. That's precisely why she doesn't kill at a whim. But characters will never see that, because she never shows it. Being raised in drow society, she's always had that wall against outward expression of, in drow terminology, weakness that comes with admission of one's fears.

 

When characters and NPCs use spells and skills, even the more destructive ones, they don't level as far as the eye can see. They don't mortally wound or outright destroy every living thing around them as easily as they take a breath. There is concentration involved. Immense action. A drain on the body and mind. 

 

I've not meant to say that everyone's bad RPers for not peeing their pants when an immortal shows up. Not at all. There are good - very good - ways to RP otherwise. The problem, though, is how many times it is done without any attempt to give some form of justification. 

Ashuga, Belderon, Osiron, Llothoria, Baexyra, Leothyre, Tarsonis, Karishin and Lykiss have all done fantastically in how they roleplay either experiencing fear but overcoming it, or holding their ground through motivated conviction (or acceptance of their own mortality, but expressing the courage to stick to their guns). That's the point of what I'm saying. It's been a frustration of mine that I've been having to try and find ways to justify Lloth, the character, not dusting so many characters for these "yeah, whatever" responses. But as pointed out, that kind of reaction is adverse to player retention, which is a chief priority of mine as staff. I bring it up to try and prompt people to really question, truly, what their character would really do when in front of a God(ess), as well as provide some insight on how to get more out of RP with immortals. It may sound like I'm saying it entirely for my sake, but I'm really not. A more thoughtful approach to any form of RP is a game-bettering approach that will guarantee better development of character and ability.

[f0xx]

16 hours ago, Lloth said:

I don't agree with that assessment. It takes a few of them just to clear out the world's big baddies.

 

While I agree that characters must pay respect to the Gods, I also think the most respect and outright fear (when it comes to evil Gods) should be payed only to the Patron God of your own religion, because the way I see it, your own God is your maker and your destroyer. If another God wants to destroy/kill me (with RP in mind), he must first go through my own God.

That being said, in D&D books, when Gods walk on the Material Plane among the mortal races, they are in their Avatar forms which are much much weaker than their Divine form. Their Avatar form is the only way they can directly physically interact with mortals. Also, when mortals find out that Gods walk among them in their Avatar forms, they form large groups and hunt them down, that's why the hunted Gods also form groups of their own from their followers in order to defend themselves.

And here comes the trick - a God is only as strong as his followers are.

[Lloth]

I agree with a good part of that, and generally go that route when I make an appearance. Erelei's already killed one of my forms. I tend to not directly harm anyone unless they've evoked that level of response from Lloth where it would be entirely out of character to -not- hurt them. Thing is, even if you consider that avenue, that Gods and Goddesses take weaker forms in order to interact with mortals... the weaker forms are STILL that much more powerful than mortals themselves.